1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lighting apparatus using microwave and particularly, to an apparatus and method for intercepting leakage of microwave which intercepts microwave leaked by a damage in a resonator in the lighting apparatus.
2. Description of the Background Art
Generally, the apparatus using a microwave is an apparatus for generating visible rays or ultraviolet rays by applying microwave to an electrodeless bulb. The electrodeless bulb in the lighting apparatus has longer life span than that of incandescent lamp or fluorescent lamp which is generally used and has higher lighting effect.
FIG. 1 is a view showing a composition of a conventional lighting apparatus using microwave.
As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional lighting apparatus using microwave includes a magnetron 17 positioned in a case 16 of the lighting apparatus, for generating microwave, a high voltage generator 18 for supplying an alternate current power source into the magnetron 17 after raising the voltage into a high voltage, a waveguide 15 for inducing microwave from the magnetron 17, an electrodeless bulb 14 for generating light by absorbing -energy of the microwave induced by the waveguide 15, a resonator 12 covered on the front side of the electrodeless bulb 14, for intercepting the microwave and passing the light generated from the electrodeless bulb 14, a reflector 11 for reflecting the light from the resonator 12 to be directly moved, a mirror 13 positioned at the lower portion of the resonator 12, for passing the microwave and reflecting the light and a cooling fan 21 installed at the lowermost portion of the case 16, for cooling the magnetron 17 and high voltage generator 18. Here, the electrodeless bulb 14 is made of quartz or ceramic and includes an emitting unit 14A in which luminescent material is sealed to emit light by the microwave and a bulb stem 14B combined with the emitting unit 14A and lengthened to the inner side of the waveguide 15. Also, the resonator 12 is formed as a cylindrical shape with an end opened in a mesh structure, to be connected with the waveguide 15 by having the opened part being covered on the electrodeless bulb 14. Also, in the conventional lighting apparatus using microwave, a bulb motor 19 for rotating the electrodeless bulb 14 and a fan motor 20 for driving the cooling fan 21 are further installed.
Hereinafter, the operation of the conventional lighting apparatus using microwave will be described as follows.
First, a control unit (not shown) outputs a driving signal into the high voltage generator 18. At this time, the high voltage generator 18 raises the voltage of the alternate current and supplies the raised voltage into the magnetron 17.
The magnetron 17 generates microwave by blistering by the high voltage supplied from the high voltage generator 18 and emits the generated microwave into the waveguide 15. Here, the microwave is emitted to the inside of the resonator 12, generates light having a specific discharge spectrum by emitting the luminescent material sealed in the electrodeless bulb 14 and the light is reflected to the front side by the reflector 11 and the mirror 13 lighting the space.
Then, the control unit cools heat of the high voltage generator 18, magnetron 17 and the electrodeless bulb 14 by driving the bulb motor 19 and fan motor 20 when the high voltage generator is driven, to prevent the magnetron from being overheated by generating heat by itself.
However, the conventional lighting apparatus using microwave has some problems that it damages the circumstance leaking the microwave through the damaged when the resonator 12 is damaged by an unexpected reason or high heat generated in the electrodeless bulb 14.
Also, the conventional lighting apparatus using microwave has a problem that safety of a user is hindered since the microwave is leaked to outside if the resonator 12 is operated under the condition that it is damaged.
Therefore, the present invention provides an apparatus and method for intercepting leakage of microwave, capable of preventing a fire by leakage of microwave and securing safety of a user by intercepting microwave leaked from a resonator of a lighting apparatus using the microwave.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided an apparatus for intercepting leakage of microwave, including an electrodeless bulb for generating light by microwave generated from a magnetron, a sensing unit installed outside the resonator for intercepting the microwave, for passing light generated in the electrodeless bulb and outputting a corresponding sensing signal by sensing at real time whether the microwave is leaked and a control unit for turning on or off a power supplied to the magnetron by the sensing signal.
To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, there is provided a method for intercepting leakage of microwave, including the steps of generating a corresponding current detection signal by detecting current applied to a magnetron, generating a corresponding optical detection signal by detecting the light from the electrodeless bulb for generating light by microwave outputted from the magnetron and intercepting a power supplied to the magnetron by sensing whether the microwave is leaked on the basis of the current detection signal and optical detection signal.
The foregoing and other, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.